When Illenium surprise debuted new unreleased music at Global Dance Festival earlier this month, he told the crowd that “Take You Down” was a very personal song for him. The precise inspiration for the single remained largely a mystery. That is, until today when Nick Miller spoke up on his own dark past with addiction.

“Six years ago I overdosed on heroin,” writes Illenium in an extremely personal open letter to fans over Facebook.

The song is about his struggle with addiction, how it destroys families, and how music saved his life. Specifically, he attributes the song’s inspiration mostly his mother: “how no matter what, she never gave up on me and always continued to see the good even though all I was doing was fucking up.”

Now more than ever, DJs and producers are speaking up about the importance of mental health and coming forward about their own past and current struggles. Illenium is one more brave artist seeking to erase a horrible stigma of addiction, alongside Alison Wonderland and Pendulum‘s Ben Verse.

Illenium’s single, “Take You Down,” is anticipated to arrive this Friday, August 3.